System and methods for alerting a user consuming media to the progress of others consuming media

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are provided herein for enabling a first user to set up an alert that will notify the first user when the first user has caught up to a second user&#39;s progress in consuming media. These systems and methods are used to ensure that the first user is informed, while they are consuming media, that they have caught up to the progress of a second user. By providing an alert while the first user is viewing media, the first user does not have to remember the progress of the second user while viewing the media, alleviating the first user from worrying they will pass the progress made by the second user without realizing they have done so.

BACKGROUND

A consumer may wish to consume media content in the company of friends,family, or other specified users, but may be unable to. In thissituation, the consumer may wish to determine the progress theirfriends, family, or others made consuming the media content, so that theconsumer can catch up to their progress consuming the media content. Forinstance, a wife may desire to catch up to her husband's progress in aparticular show during the day in order to watch together from the sameepisode later in the evening. Additionally, the consumer may havetrouble learning or remembering the progress point of friends, family,or others while the consumer is consuming the media content and mayaccidentally or unknowingly go past the users' progress points.

SUMMARY

Systems and methods are provided herein for enabling a first user to setup an alert that will notify the first user when the first user hascaught up to a second user's progress in consuming media. These systemsand methods are used to ensure that the first user is informed, while heor she is consuming media, that he or she has caught up to the progressof a second user. By providing an alert while the first user is viewingmedia, the first user does not have to remember the progress of thesecond user while viewing the media, thus alleviating the first userfrom worrying he or she will pass the progress made by the second userwithout realizing he or she has done so.

In some aspects of the disclosure, control circuitry may receive a firstselection, made by a first user of a media consumption application, ofan identifier of a second user, where the media consumption applicationprovides access to a variety of media. The media consumption applicationcould be any user interface generated by control circuitry thatfacilitates access to media by the user. The identifier is associatedwith the second user and allows the control circuitry to determine thesecond user that the first user desires to select. For instance, a usermay select an icon with an image of a sibling whose progress consumingmedia the user is interested in. The control circuitry in this case willdetect a selection of an identifier corresponding to the sibling that isassociated with the sibling.

In some embodiments, control circuitry may receive a second selection,made by the first user, of an identifier of media, where the identifiercorresponds to first media accessible through the media consumptionapplication. The identifier is associated with the selected first mediaand allows the control circuitry to determine the first media that thefirst user desires to select. For example, a user may select a specifictelevision series, “Seinfeld,” that he or she is interested inconsuming. The control circuitry in this case will detect a userselection of an identifier corresponding to the series “Seinfeld” thatis unique to the series.

In some embodiments, in response to receiving both the first selectionand the second selection, control circuitry may monitor for access ofthe first media by the first user. Continuing with the selections madeby the user in the previous examples, the control circuitry may storethe unique media identifier associated with the series “Seinfeld” in afirst data structure. The first data structure may contain profileinformation relating to the first user, such as media the first user hasviewed, associated accounts, and account settings. The control circuitrymay receive an indication that the first user is using the mediaconsumption application to consume media with a second media identifier.In response to receiving this indication, the control circuitry mayquery the first data structure to determine if the media with the secondmedia identifier currently consumed is the same as the first mediaidentifier, corresponding to “Seinfeld,” stored in the first datastructure.

In some embodiments, control circuitry may detect, during themonitoring, that the first user is accessing the first media. Forexample, control circuitry may detect, based on the monitoring by thecontrol circuitry, that the first user has accessed and is consuming anepisode of “Seinfeld.”

In some embodiments, control circuitry may compare, while the first useris accessing the first media, a first consumption progress of the firstuser with respect to the first media with a second consumption progressof the second user with respect to the first media. Continuing with the“Seinfeld” example, the control circuitry may query a first datastructure associated with the first user for the first consumptionprogress with respect to the series “Seinfeld,” and may determine thatthe first consumption progress of the first user corresponds to 10minutes into episode 5 of season 4. The control circuitry may then querya second data structure associated with the sibling for the secondconsumption progress with respect to the series “Seinfeld” and maydetermine that the second consumption progress of the siblingcorresponds to 15 minutes into episode 5 of season 4. The second datastructure may contain profile information relating to the second user,such as media the second user has viewed, associated accounts, andaccount settings. The control circuitry may then compare the firstconsumption progress and the second consumption progress.

In some embodiments, control circuitry may determine, based on thecomparing, that the first user has caught up to the consumption progressof the second user. Continuing from the previous example, the controlcircuitry may compare the first consumption progress of the first userwith the second consumption progress of the sibling for the show“Seinfeld.” For example, the control circuitry may determine bysubtraction of the consumption progress of the first user from theconsumption progress of the second user that the consumption progress inthe series “Seinfeld” for the first user is 5 minutes away from theconsumption progress in the series “Seinfeld” of the sibling. Thecontrol circuitry may then compare the result of the comparison with athreshold criterion, where the threshold criterion defines a range ofthe relative consumption progress of the first user with respect to theconsumption progress of the second user that qualifies the first user'sconsumption progress as being caught up to the second user's consumptionprogress. If, for instance, the threshold criterion was that the firstconsumption progress of the first user and the second consumptionprogress of the second user are within 10 minutes of each other, thenthe control circuitry may determine the threshold condition is met,because the control circuitry determined the first user is 5 minutesaway from the second user's progress and 5 minutes is less than the 10minute threshold criterion. In response to a determination that thethreshold condition is met, the control circuitry may determine that thefirst user has caught up to the second user.

In some embodiments, in response to the control circuitry determiningthat the first user has caught up to the consumption progress of thesecond user, control circuitry may generate for display an alertindicating the first user has caught up to the second user. For example,in response to the control circuitry determining that the first user hascaught up to the consumption progress of their sibling in the series“Seinfeld,” the control circuitry may pause, without further input fromthe first user, playback of the series “Seinfeld” currently beingaccessed by the first user, where control circuitry may generate fordisplay the alert while the playback of “Seinfeld” is paused.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects and advantages of the disclosure will beapparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like referencecharacters refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative embodiment of a display screen that may beused to provide media guidance application listings and other mediaguidance information, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 2 shows another illustrative embodiment of a display screen thatmay be used to provide media guidance application listings, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an illustrative user equipment (UE) devicein accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an illustrative media system in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 depicts an illustrative user equipment displaying a userinterface of a media consumption application, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of illustrative steps involved in determiningwhether a first user has caught up to the media consumption progress ofa second user, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of illustrative steps involved in receiving afirst selection, made by a first user of a media consumptionapplication, of an identifier of a second user, as well as receiving asecond selection made by the first user, of a first media, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of illustrative steps involved in monitoring anddetecting for access of the first media by the first user, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of illustrative steps involved in comparing thefirst consumption progress of the first user with respect to the firstmedia with a second consumption progress of the second user, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of illustrative steps involved in determining,based on the comparing, that the first user has caught up to the secondconsumption progress of the second user, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure; and

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of illustrative steps involved in generating fordisplay an alert indicating the first user has caught up to the seconduser, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Systems and methods are provided herein for enabling a first user to setup an alert that will notify the first user when the first user hascaught up to a second user's progress in consuming media. These systemsand methods are used to ensure that the first user is informed, while heor she is consuming media, that he or she has caught up to the progressof a second user. By providing an alert while the first user is viewingmedia, the first user does not have to remember the progress of thesecond user while viewing the media, thus alleviating the first userfrom worrying he or she will pass the progress made by the second userwithout realizing he or she has done so.

The amount of content available to users in any given content deliverysystem can be substantial. Consequently, many users desire a form ofmedia guidance through an interface that allows users to efficientlynavigate content selections and easily identify content that they maydesire. An application that provides such guidance is referred to hereinas an interactive media guidance application or, sometimes, a mediaguidance application or a guidance application.

Interactive media guidance applications may take various forms dependingon the content for which they provide guidance. One typical type ofmedia guidance application is an interactive television program guide.Interactive television program guides (sometimes referred to aselectronic program guides) are well-known guidance applications that,among other things, allow users to navigate among and locate many typesof content or media assets. Interactive media guidance applications maygenerate graphical user interface screens that enable a user to navigateamong, locate and select content. As referred to herein, the terms“media asset” and “content” should be understood to mean anelectronically consumable user asset, such as television programming, aswell as pay-per-view programs, on-demand programs (as in video-on-demand(VOD) systems), Internet content (e.g., streaming content, downloadablecontent, Webcasts, etc.), video clips, audio, content information,pictures, rotating images, documents, playlists, websites, articles,books, electronic books, blogs, advertisements, chat sessions, socialmedia, applications, games, and/or any other media or multimedia and/orcombination of the same. Guidance applications also allow users tonavigate among and locate content. As referred to herein, the term“multimedia” should be understood to mean content that utilizes at leasttwo different content forms described above, for example, text, audio,images, video, or interactivity content forms. Content may be recorded,played, displayed or accessed by user equipment devices, but can also bepart of a live performance.

The media guidance application and/or any instructions for performingany of the embodiments discussed herein may be encoded on computerreadable media. Computer readable media includes any media capable ofstoring data. The computer readable media may be transitory, including,but not limited to, propagating electrical or electromagnetic signals,or may be non-transitory including, but not limited to, volatile andnon-volatile computer memory or storage devices such as a hard disk,floppy disk, USB drive, DVD, CD, media cards, register memory, processorcaches, Random Access Memory (“RAM”), etc.

With the advent of the Internet, mobile computing, and high-speedwireless networks, users are accessing media on user equipment deviceson which they traditionally did not. As referred to herein, the phrase“user equipment device,” “user equipment,” “user device,” “electronicdevice,” “electronic equipment,” “media equipment device,” or “mediadevice” should be understood to mean any device for accessing thecontent described above, such as a television, a Smart TV, a set-topbox, an integrated receiver decoder (IRD) for handling satellitetelevision, a digital storage device, a digital media receiver (DMR), adigital media adapter (DMA), a streaming media device, a DVD player, aDVD recorder, a connected DVD, a local media server, a BLU-RAY player, aBLU-RAY recorder, a personal computer (PC), a laptop computer, a tabletcomputer, a WebTV box, a personal computer television (PC/TV), a PCmedia server, a PC media center, a hand-held computer, a stationarytelephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, aportable video player, a portable music player, a portable gamingmachine, a smart phone, or any other television equipment, computingequipment, or wireless device, and/or combination of the same. In someembodiments, the user equipment device may have a front facing screenand a rear facing screen, multiple front screens, or multiple angledscreens. In some embodiments, the user equipment device may have a frontfacing camera and/or a rear facing camera. On these user equipmentdevices, users may be able to navigate among and locate the same contentavailable through a television. Consequently, media guidance may beavailable on these devices, as well. The guidance provided may be forcontent available only through a television, for content available onlythrough one or more of other types of user equipment devices, or forcontent available both through a television and one or more of the othertypes of user equipment devices. The media guidance applications may beprovided as on-line applications (i.e., provided on a web-site), or asstand-alone applications or clients on user equipment devices. Variousdevices and platforms that may implement media guidance applications aredescribed in more detail below.

One of the functions of the media guidance application is to providemedia guidance data to users. As referred to herein, the phrase “mediaguidance data” or “guidance data” should be understood to mean any datarelated to content or data used in operating the guidance application.For example, the guidance data may include program information, guidanceapplication settings, user preferences, user profile information, medialistings, media-related information (e.g., broadcast times, broadcastchannels, titles, descriptions, ratings information (e.g., parentalcontrol ratings, critic's ratings, etc.), genre or category information,actor information, logo data for broadcasters' or providers' logos,etc.), media format (e.g., standard definition, high definition, 3D,etc.), advertisement information (e.g., text, images, media clips,etc.), on-demand information, blogs, websites, and any other type ofguidance data that is helpful for a user to navigate among and locatedesired content selections.

FIGS. 1-2 show illustrative display screens that may be used to providemedia guidance data. The display screens shown in FIGS. 1-2 may beimplemented on any suitable user equipment device or platform. While thedisplays of FIGS. 1-2 are illustrated as full screen displays, they mayalso be fully or partially overlaid over content being displayed. A usermay indicate a desire to access content information by selecting aselectable option provided in a display screen (e.g., a menu option, alistings option, an icon, a hyperlink, etc.) or pressing a dedicatedbutton (e.g., a GUIDE button) on a remote control or other user inputinterface or device. In response to the user's indication, the mediaguidance application may provide a display screen with media guidancedata organized in one of several ways, such as by time and channel in agrid, by time, by channel, by source, by content type, by category(e.g., movies, sports, news, children, or other categories ofprogramming), or other predefined, user-defined, or other organizationcriteria.

FIG. 1 shows illustrative grid of a program listings display 100arranged by time and channel that also enables access to different typesof content in a single display. Display 100 may include grid 102 with:(1) a column of channel/content type identifiers 104, where eachchannel/content type identifier (which is a cell in the column)identifies a different channel or content type available; and (2) a rowof time identifiers 106, where each time identifier (which is a cell inthe row) identifies a time block of programming. Grid 102 also includescells of program listings, such as program listing 108, where eachlisting provides the title of the program provided on the listing'sassociated channel and time. With a user input device, a user can selectprogram listings by moving highlight region 110. Information relating tothe program listing selected by highlight region 110 may be provided inprogram information region 112. Region 112 may include, for example, theprogram title, the program description, the time the program is provided(if applicable), the channel the program is on (if applicable), theprogram's rating, and other desired information.

In addition to providing access to linear programming (e.g., contentthat is scheduled to be transmitted to a plurality of user equipmentdevices at a predetermined time and is provided according to aschedule), the media guidance application also provides access tonon-linear programming (e.g., content accessible to a user equipmentdevice at any time and is not provided according to a schedule).Non-linear programming may include content from different contentsources including on-demand content (e.g., VOD), Internet content (e.g.,streaming media, downloadable media, etc.), locally stored content(e.g., content stored on any user equipment device described above orother storage device), or other time-independent content. On-demandcontent may include movies or any other content provided by a particularcontent provider (e.g., HBO On Demand providing “The Sopranos” and “CurbYour Enthusiasm”). HBO ON DEMAND is a service mark owned by Time WarnerCompany L.P. et al. and THE SOPRANOS and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM aretrademarks owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. Internet content mayinclude web events, such as a chat session or Webcast, or contentavailable on-demand as streaming content or downloadable content throughan Internet web site or other Internet access (e.g. FTP).

Grid 102 may provide media guidance data for non-linear programmingincluding on-demand listing 114, recorded content listing 116, andInternet content listing 118. A display combining media guidance datafor content from different types of content sources is sometimesreferred to as a “mixed-media” display. Various permutations of thetypes of media guidance data that may be displayed that are differentthan display 100 may be based on user selection or guidance applicationdefinition (e.g., a display of only recorded and broadcast listings,only on-demand and broadcast listings, etc.). As illustrated, listings114, 116, and 118 are shown as spanning the entire time block displayedin grid 102 to indicate that selection of these listings may provideaccess to a display dedicated to on-demand listings, recorded listings,or Internet listings, respectively. In some embodiments, listings forthese content types may be included directly in grid 102. Additionalmedia guidance data may be displayed in response to the user selectingone of the navigational icons 120. (Pressing an arrow key on a userinput device may affect the display in a similar manner as selectingnavigational icons 120.)

Display 100 may also include video region 122, advertisement 124, andoptions region 126. Video region 122 may allow the user to view and/orpreview programs that are currently available, will be available, orwere available to the user. The content of video region 122 maycorrespond to, or be independent from, one of the listings displayed ingrid 102. Grid displays including a video region are sometimes referredto as picture-in-guide (PIG) displays. PIG displays and theirfunctionalities are described in greater detail in Satterfield et al.U.S. Pat. No. 6,564,378, issued May 13, 2003 and Yuen et al. U.S. Pat.No. 6,239,794, issued May 29, 2001, which are hereby incorporated byreference herein in their entireties. PIG displays may be included inother media guidance application display screens of the embodimentsdescribed herein.

Advertisement 124 may provide an advertisement for content that,depending on a viewer's access rights (e.g., for subscriptionprogramming), is currently available for viewing, will be available forviewing in the future, or may never become available for viewing, andmay correspond to or be unrelated to one or more of the content listingsin grid 102. Advertisement 124 may also be for products or servicesrelated or unrelated to the content displayed in grid 102. Advertisement124 may be selectable and provide further information about content,provide information about a product or a service, enable purchasing ofcontent, a product, or a service, provide content relating to theadvertisement, etc. Advertisement 124 may be targeted based on a user'sprofile/preferences, monitored user activity, the type of displayprovided, or on other suitable targeted advertisement bases.

While advertisement 124 is shown as rectangular or banner shaped,advertisements may be provided in any suitable size, shape, and locationin a guidance application display. For example, advertisement 124 may beprovided as a rectangular shape that is horizontally adjacent to grid102. This is sometimes referred to as a panel advertisement. Inaddition, advertisements may be overlaid over content or a guidanceapplication display or embedded within a display. Advertisements mayalso include text, images, rotating images, video clips, or other typesof content described above. Advertisements may be stored in a userequipment device having a guidance application, in a database connectedto the user equipment, in a remote location (including streaming mediaservers), or on other storage means, or a combination of theselocations. Providing advertisements in a media guidance application isdiscussed in greater detail in, for example, Knudson et al., U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2003/0110499, filed Jan. 17, 2003; Ward, IIIet al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,756,997, issued Jun. 29, 2004; and Schein et al.U.S. Pat. No. 6,388,714, issued May 14, 2002, which are herebyincorporated by reference herein in their entireties. It will beappreciated that advertisements may be included in other media guidanceapplication display screens of the embodiments described herein.

Options region 126 may allow the user to access different types ofcontent, media guidance application displays, and/or media guidanceapplication features. Options region 126 may be part of display 100 (andother display screens described herein), or may be invoked by a user byselecting an on-screen option or pressing a dedicated or assignablebutton on a user input device. The selectable options within optionsregion 126 may concern features related to program listings in grid 102or may include options available from a main menu display. Featuresrelated to program listings may include searching for other air times orways of receiving a program, recording a program, enabling seriesrecording of a program, setting program and/or channel as a favorite,purchasing a program, or other features. Options available from a mainmenu display may include search options, VOD options, parental controloptions, Internet options, cloud-based options, device synchronizationoptions, second screen device options, options to access various typesof media guidance data displays, options to subscribe to a premiumservice, options to edit a user's profile, options to access a browseoverlay, or other options.

The media guidance application may be personalized based on a user'spreferences. A personalized media guidance application allows a user tocustomize displays and features to create a personalized “experience”with the media guidance application. This personalized experience may becreated by allowing a user to input these customizations and/or by themedia guidance application monitoring user activity to determine varioususer preferences. Users may access their personalized guidanceapplication by logging in or otherwise identifying themselves to theguidance application. Customization of the media guidance applicationmay be made in accordance with a user profile. The customizations mayinclude varying presentation schemes (e.g., color scheme of displays,font size of text, etc.), aspects of content listings displayed (e.g.,only HDTV or only 3D programming, user-specified broadcast channelsbased on favorite channel selections, re-ordering the display ofchannels, recommended content, etc.), desired recording features (e.g.,recording or series recordings for particular users, recording quality,etc.), parental control settings, customized presentation of Internetcontent (e.g., presentation of social media content, e-mail,electronically delivered articles, etc.) and other desiredcustomizations.

The media guidance application may allow a user to provide user profileinformation or may automatically compile user profile information. Themedia guidance application may, for example, monitor the content theuser accesses and/or other interactions the user may have with theguidance application. Additionally, the media guidance application mayobtain all or part of other user profiles that are related to aparticular user (e.g., from other web sites on the Internet the useraccesses, such as www.allrovi.com, from other media guidanceapplications the user accesses, from other interactive applications theuser accesses, from another user equipment device of the user, etc.),and/or obtain information about the user from other sources that themedia guidance application may access. As a result, a user can beprovided with a unified guidance application experience across theuser's different user equipment devices. This type of user experience isdescribed in greater detail below in connection with FIG. 4 . Additionalpersonalized media guidance application features are described ingreater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No.2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005, Boyer et al., U.S. Pat. No.7,165,098, issued Jan. 16, 2007, and Ellis et al., U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2002/0174430, filed Feb. 21, 2002, which arehereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

Another display arrangement for providing media guidance is shown inFIG. 2 . Video mosaic display 200 includes selectable options 202 forcontent information organized based on content type, genre, and/or otherorganization criteria. In display 200, television listings option 204 isselected, thus providing listings 206, 208, 210, and 212 as broadcastprogram listings. In display 200 the listings may provide graphicalimages including cover art, still images from the content, video clippreviews, live video from the content, or other types of content thatindicate to a user the content being described by the media guidancedata in the listing. Each of the graphical listings may also beaccompanied by text to provide further information about the contentassociated with the listing. For example, listing 208 may include morethan one portion, including media portion 214 and text portion 216.Media portion 214 and/or text portion 216 may be selectable to viewcontent in full-screen or to view information related to the contentdisplayed in media portion 214 (e.g., to view listings for the channelthat the video is displayed on).

The listings in display 200 are of different sizes (i.e., listing 206 islarger than listings 208, 210, and 212), but if desired, all thelistings may be the same size. Listings may be of different sizes orgraphically accentuated to indicate degrees of interest to the user orto emphasize certain content, as desired by the content provider orbased on user preferences. Various systems and methods for graphicallyaccentuating content listings are discussed in, for example, Yates, U.S.Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0153885, filed Nov. 12, 2009,which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Users may access content and the media guidance application (and itsdisplay screens described above and below) from one or more of theiruser equipment devices. FIG. 3 shows a generalized embodiment ofillustrative user equipment device 300. More specific implementations ofuser equipment devices are discussed below in connection with FIG. 4 .User equipment device 300 may receive content and data via input/output(hereinafter “I/O”) path 302. I/O path 302 may provide content (e.g.,broadcast programming, on-demand programming, Internet content, contentavailable over a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN),and/or other content) and data to control circuitry 304, which includesprocessing circuitry 306 and storage 308. Control circuitry 304 may beused to send and receive commands, requests, and other suitable datausing I/O path 302. I/O path 302 may connect control circuitry 304 (andspecifically processing circuitry 306) to one or more communicationspaths (described below). I/O functions may be provided by one or more ofthese communications paths, but are shown as a single path in FIG. 3 toavoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Control circuitry 304 may be based on any suitable processing circuitrysuch as processing circuitry 306. As referred to herein, processingcircuitry should be understood to mean circuitry based on one or moremicroprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors,programmable logic devices, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs),application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc., and may includea multi-core processor (e.g., dual-core, quad-core, hexa-core, or anysuitable number of cores) or supercomputer. In some embodiments,processing circuitry may be distributed across multiple separateprocessors or processing units, for example, multiple of the same typeof processing units (e.g., two Intel Core i7 processors) or multipledifferent processors (e.g., an Intel Core i5 processor and an Intel Corei7 processor). In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 executesinstructions for a media guidance application stored in memory (i.e.,storage 308). Specifically, control circuitry 304 may be instructed bythe media guidance application to perform the functions discussed aboveand below. For example, the media guidance application may provideinstructions to control circuitry 304 to generate the media guidancedisplays. In some implementations, any action performed by controlcircuitry 304 may be based on instructions received from the mediaguidance application.

In client-server based embodiments, control circuitry 304 may includecommunications circuitry suitable for communicating with a guidanceapplication server or other networks or servers. The instructions forcarrying out the above mentioned functionality may be stored on theguidance application server. Communications circuitry may include acable modem, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) modem, adigital subscriber line (DSL) modem, a telephone modem, Ethernet card,or a wireless modem for communications with other equipment, or anyother suitable communications circuitry. Such communications may involvethe Internet or any other suitable communications networks or paths(which is described in more detail in connection with FIG. 4 ). Inaddition, communications circuitry may include circuitry that enablespeer-to-peer communication of user equipment devices, or communicationof user equipment devices in locations remote from each other (describedin more detail below).

Memory may be an electronic storage device provided as storage 308 thatis part of control circuitry 304. As referred to herein, the phrase“electronic storage device” or “storage device” should be understood tomean any device for storing electronic data, computer software, orfirmware, such as random-access memory, read-only memory, hard drives,optical drives, digital video disc (DVD) recorders, compact disc (CD)recorders, BLU-RAY disc (BD) recorders, BLU-RAY 3D disc recorders,digital video recorders (DVR, sometimes called a personal videorecorder, or PVR), solid state devices, quantum storage devices, gamingconsoles, gaming media, or any other suitable fixed or removable storagedevices, and/or any combination of the same. Storage 308 may be used tostore various types of content described herein as well as mediaguidance data described above. Nonvolatile memory may also be used(e.g., to launch a boot-up routine and other instructions). Cloud-basedstorage, described in relation to FIG. 4 , may be used to supplementstorage 308 or instead of storage 308.

Control circuitry 304 may include video generating circuitry and tuningcircuitry, such as one or more analog tuners, one or more MPEG-2decoders or other digital decoding circuitry, high-definition tuners, orany other suitable tuning or video circuits or combinations of suchcircuits. Encoding circuitry (e.g., for converting over-the-air, analog,or digital signals to MPEG signals for storage) may also be provided.Control circuitry 304 may also include scaler circuitry for upconvertingand downconverting content into the preferred output format of the userequipment 300. Circuitry 304 may also include digital-to-analogconverter circuitry and analog-to-digital converter circuitry forconverting between digital and analog signals. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may be used by the user equipment device to receive and todisplay, to play, or to record content. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may also be used to receive guidance data. The circuitrydescribed herein, including for example, the tuning, video generating,encoding, decoding, encrypting, decrypting, scaler, and analog/digitalcircuitry, may be implemented using software running on one or moregeneral purpose or specialized processors. Multiple tuners may beprovided to handle simultaneous tuning functions (e.g., watch and recordfunctions, picture-in-picture (PIP) functions, multiple-tuner recording,etc.). If storage 308 is provided as a separate device from userequipment 300, the tuning and encoding circuitry (including multipletuners) may be associated with storage 308.

A user may send instructions to control circuitry 304 using user inputinterface 310. User input interface 310 may be any suitable userinterface, such as a remote control, mouse, trackball, keypad, keyboard,touch screen, touchpad, stylus input, joystick, voice recognitioninterface, or other user input interfaces. Display 312 may be providedas a stand-alone device or integrated with other elements of userequipment device 300. For example, display 312 may be a touchscreen ortouch-sensitive display. In such circumstances, user input interface 310may be integrated with or combined with display 312. Display 312 may beone or more of a monitor, a television, a liquid crystal display (LCD)for a mobile device, amorphous silicon display, low temperature polysilicon display, electronic ink display, electrophoretic display, activematrix display, electro-wetting display, electrofluidic display, cathoderay tube display, light-emitting diode display, electroluminescentdisplay, plasma display panel, high-performance addressing display,thin-film transistor display, organic light-emitting diode display,surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED), laser television,carbon nanotubes, quantum dot display, interferometric modulatordisplay, or any other suitable equipment for displaying visual images.In some embodiments, display 312 may be HDTV-capable. In someembodiments, display 312 may be a 3D display, and the interactive mediaguidance application and any suitable content may be displayed in 3D. Avideo card or graphics card may generate the output to the display 312.The video card may offer various functions such as accelerated renderingof 3D scenes and 2D graphics, MPEG-2/MPEG-4 decoding, TV output, or theability to connect multiple monitors. The video card may be anyprocessing circuitry described above in relation to control circuitry304. The video card may be integrated with the control circuitry 304.Speakers 314 may be provided as integrated with other elements of userequipment device 300 or may be stand-alone units. The audio component ofvideos and other content displayed on display 312 may be played throughspeakers 314. In some embodiments, the audio may be distributed to areceiver (not shown), which processes and outputs the audio via speakers314.

The guidance application may be implemented using any suitablearchitecture. For example, it may be a stand-alone applicationwholly-implemented on user equipment device 300. In such an approach,instructions of the application are stored locally (e.g., in storage308), and data for use by the application is downloaded on a periodicbasis (e.g., from an out-of-band feed, from an Internet resource, orusing another suitable approach). Control circuitry 304 may retrieveinstructions of the application from storage 308 and process theinstructions to generate any of the displays discussed herein. Based onthe processed instructions, control circuitry 304 may determine whataction to perform when input is received from user input interface 310.For example, movement of a cursor on a display up/down may be indicatedby the processed instructions when user input interface 310 indicatesthat an up/down button was selected.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is a client-serverbased application. Data for use by a thick or thin client implemented onuser equipment device 300 is retrieved on-demand by issuing requests toa server remote to the user equipment device 300. In one example of aclient-server based guidance application, control circuitry 304 runs aweb browser that interprets web pages provided by a remote server. Forexample, the remote server may store the instructions for theapplication in a storage device. The remote server may process thestored instructions using circuitry (e.g., control circuitry 304) andgenerate the displays discussed above and below. The client device mayreceive the displays generated by the remote server and may display thecontent of the displays locally on equipment device 300. This way, theprocessing of the instructions is performed remotely by the server whilethe resulting displays are provided locally on equipment device 300.Equipment device 300 may receive inputs from the user via user inputinterface 310 and transmit those inputs to the remote server forprocessing and generating the corresponding displays. For example,equipment device 300 may transmit a communication to the remote serverindicating that an up/down button was selected via user input interface310. The remote server may process instructions in accordance with thatinput and generate a display of the application corresponding to theinput (e.g., a display that moves a cursor up/down). The generateddisplay is then transmitted to equipment device 300 for presentation tothe user.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is downloaded andinterpreted or otherwise run by an interpreter or virtual machine (runby control circuitry 304). In some embodiments, the guidance applicationmay be encoded in the ETV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF), received bycontrol circuitry 304 as part of a suitable feed, and interpreted by auser agent running on control circuitry 304. For example, the guidanceapplication may be an EBIF application. In some embodiments, theguidance application may be defined by a series of JAVA-based files thatare received and run by a local virtual machine or other suitablemiddleware executed by control circuitry 304. In some of suchembodiments (e.g., those employing MPEG-2 or other digital mediaencoding schemes), the guidance application may be, for example, encodedand transmitted in an MPEG-2 object carousel with the MPEG audio andvideo packets of a program.

User equipment device 300 of FIG. 3 can be implemented in system 400 ofFIG. 4 as user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404,wireless user communications device 406, or any other type of userequipment suitable for accessing content, such as a non-portable gamingmachine. For simplicity, these devices may be referred to hereincollectively as user equipment or user equipment devices, and may besubstantially similar to user equipment devices described above. Userequipment devices, on which a media guidance application may beimplemented, may function as a standalone device or may be part of anetwork of devices. Various network configurations of devices may beimplemented and are discussed in more detail below.

A user equipment device utilizing at least some of the system featuresdescribed above in connection with FIG. 3 may not be classified solelyas user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, or awireless user communications device 406. For example, user televisionequipment 402 may, like some user computer equipment 404, beInternet-enabled allowing for access to Internet content, while usercomputer equipment 404 may, like some television equipment 402, includea tuner allowing for access to television programming. The mediaguidance application may have the same layout on various different typesof user equipment or may be tailored to the display capabilities of theuser equipment. For example, on user computer equipment 404, theguidance application may be provided as a web site accessed by a webbrowser. In another example, the guidance application may be scaled downfor wireless user communications devices 406.

In system 400, there is typically more than one of each type of userequipment device but only one of each is shown in FIG. 4 to avoidovercomplicating the drawing. In addition, each user may utilize morethan one type of user equipment device and also more than one of eachtype of user equipment device.

In some embodiments, a user equipment device (e.g., user televisionequipment 402, user computer equipment 404, wireless user communicationsdevice 406) may be referred to as a “second screen device.” For example,a second screen device may supplement content presented on a first userequipment device. The content presented on the second screen device maybe any suitable content that supplements the content presented on thefirst device. In some embodiments, the second screen device provides aninterface for adjusting settings and display preferences of the firstdevice. In some embodiments, the second screen device is configured forinteracting with other second screen devices or for interacting with asocial network. The second screen device can be located in the same roomas the first device, a different room from the first device but in thesame house or building, or in a different building from the firstdevice.

The user may also set various settings to maintain consistent mediaguidance application settings across in-home devices and remote devices.Settings include those described herein, as well as channel and programfavorites, programming preferences that the guidance applicationutilizes to make programming recommendations, display preferences, andother desirable guidance settings. For example, if a user sets a channelas a favorite on, for example, the web site www.allrovi.com on theirpersonal computer at their office, the same channel would appear as afavorite on the user's in-home devices (e.g., user television equipmentand user computer equipment) as well as the user's mobile devices, ifdesired. Therefore, changes made on one user equipment device can changethe guidance experience on another user equipment device, regardless ofwhether they are the same or a different type of user equipment device.In addition, the changes made may be based on settings input by a user,as well as user activity monitored by the guidance application.

The user equipment devices may be coupled to communications network 414.Namely, user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, andwireless user communications device 406 are coupled to communicationsnetwork 414 via communications paths 408, 410, and 412, respectively.Communications network 414 may be one or more networks including theInternet, a mobile phone network, mobile voice or data network (e.g., a4G or LTE network), cable network, public switched telephone network, orother types of communications network or combinations of communicationsnetworks. Paths 408, 410, and 412 may separately or together include oneor more communications paths, such as, a satellite path, a fiber-opticpath, a cable path, a path that supports Internet communications (e.g.,IPTV), free-space connections (e.g., for broadcast or other wirelesssignals), or any other suitable wired or wireless communications path orcombination of such paths. Path 412 is drawn with dotted lines toindicate that in the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 4 it is awireless path and paths 408 and 410 are drawn as solid lines to indicatethey are wired paths (although these paths may be wireless paths, ifdesired). Communications with the user equipment devices may be providedby one or more of these communications paths, but are shown as a singlepath in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Although communications paths are not drawn between user equipmentdevices, these devices may communicate directly with each other viacommunication paths, such as those described above in connection withpaths 408, 410, and 412, as well as other short-range point-to-pointcommunication paths, such as USB cables, IEEE 1394 cables, wirelesspaths (e.g., Bluetooth, infrared, IEEE 802-11x, etc.), or othershort-range communication via wired or wireless paths. BLUETOOTH is acertification mark owned by Bluetooth SIG, INC. The user equipmentdevices may also communicate with each other directly through anindirect path via communications network 414.

System 400 includes content source 416 and media guidance data source418 coupled to communications network 414 via communication paths 420and 422, respectively. Paths 420 and 422 may include any of thecommunication paths described above in connection with paths 408, 410,and 412. Communications with the content source 416 and media guidancedata source 418 may be exchanged over one or more communications paths,but are shown as a single path in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating thedrawing. In addition, there may be more than one of each of contentsource 416 and media guidance data source 418, but only one of each isshown in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. (The differenttypes of each of these sources are discussed below.) If desired, contentsource 416 and media guidance data source 418 may be integrated as onesource device. Although communications between sources 416 and 418 withuser equipment devices 402, 404, and 406 are shown as throughcommunications network 414, in some embodiments, sources 416 and 418 maycommunicate directly with user equipment devices 402, 404, and 406 viacommunication paths (not shown) such as those described above inconnection with paths 408, 410, and 412.

Content source 416 may include one or more types of content distributionequipment including a television distribution facility, cable systemheadend, satellite distribution facility, programming sources (e.g.,television broadcasters, such as NBC, ABC, HBO, etc.), intermediatedistribution facilities and/or servers, Internet providers, on-demandmedia servers, and other content providers. NBC is a trademark owned bythe National Broadcasting Company, Inc., ABC is a trademark owned by theAmerican Broadcasting Company, Inc., and HBO is a trademark owned by theHome Box Office, Inc. Content source 416 may be the originator ofcontent (e.g., a television broadcaster, a Webcast provider, etc.) ormay not be the originator of content (e.g., an on-demand contentprovider, an Internet provider of content of broadcast programs fordownloading, etc.). Content source 416 may include cable sources,satellite providers, on-demand providers, Internet providers,over-the-top content providers, or other providers of content. Contentsource 416 may also include a remote media server used to storedifferent types of content (including video content selected by a user),in a location remote from any of the user equipment devices. Systems andmethods for remote storage of content, and providing remotely storedcontent to user equipment are discussed in greater detail in connectionwith Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,761,892, issued Jul. 20, 2010, whichis hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Media guidance data source 418 may provide media guidance data, such asthe media guidance data described above. Media guidance data may beprovided to the user equipment devices using any suitable approach. Insome embodiments, the guidance application may be a stand-aloneinteractive television program guide that receives program guide datavia a data feed (e.g., a continuous feed or trickle feed). Programschedule data and other guidance data may be provided to the userequipment on a television channel sideband, using an in-band digitalsignal, using an out-of-band digital signal, or by any other suitabledata transmission technique. Program schedule data and other mediaguidance data may be provided to user equipment on multiple analog ordigital television channels.

In some embodiments, guidance data from media guidance data source 418may be provided to users' equipment using a client-server approach. Forexample, a user equipment device may pull media guidance data from aserver, or a server may push media guidance data to a user equipmentdevice. In some embodiments, a guidance application client residing onthe user's equipment may initiate sessions with source 418 to obtainguidance data when needed, e.g., when the guidance data is out of dateor when the user equipment device receives a request from the user toreceive data. Media guidance may be provided to the user equipment withany suitable frequency (e.g., continuously, daily, a user-specifiedperiod of time, a system-specified period of time, in response to arequest from user equipment, etc.). Media guidance data source 418 mayprovide user equipment devices 402, 404, and 406 the media guidanceapplication itself or software updates for the media guidanceapplication.

In some embodiments, the media guidance data may include viewer data.For example, the viewer data may include current and/or historical useractivity information (e.g., what content the user typically watches,what times of day the user watches content, whether the user interactswith a social network, at what times the user interacts with a socialnetwork to post information, what types of content the user typicallywatches (e.g., pay TV or free TV), mood, brain activity information,etc.). The media guidance data may also include subscription data. Forexample, the subscription data may identify to which sources or servicesa given user subscribes and/or to which sources or services the givenuser has previously subscribed but later terminated access (e.g.,whether the user subscribes to premium channels, whether the user hasadded a premium level of services, whether the user has increasedInternet speed). In some embodiments, the viewer data and/or thesubscription data may identify patterns of a given user for a period ofmore than one year. The media guidance data may include a model (e.g., asurvivor model) used for generating a score that indicates a likelihooda given user will terminate access to a service/source. For example, themedia guidance application may process the viewer data with thesubscription data using the model to generate a value or score thatindicates a likelihood of whether the given user will terminate accessto a particular service or source. In particular, a higher score mayindicate a higher level of confidence that the user will terminateaccess to a particular service or source. Based on the score, the mediaguidance application may generate promotions and advertisements thatentice the user to keep the particular service or source indicated bythe score as one to which the user will likely terminate access.

Media guidance applications may be, for example, stand-aloneapplications implemented on user equipment devices. For example, themedia guidance application may be implemented as software or a set ofexecutable instructions which may be stored in storage 308, and executedby control circuitry 304 of a user equipment device 300. In someembodiments, media guidance applications may be client-serverapplications where only a client application resides on the userequipment device, and server application resides on a remote server. Forexample, media guidance applications may be implemented partially as aclient application on control circuitry 304 of user equipment device 300and partially on a remote server as a server application (e.g., mediaguidance data source 418) running on control circuitry of the remoteserver. When executed by control circuitry of the remote server (such asmedia guidance data source 418), the media guidance application mayinstruct the control circuitry to generate the guidance applicationdisplays and transmit the generated displays to the user equipmentdevices. The server application may instruct the control circuitry ofthe media guidance data source 418 to transmit data for storage on theuser equipment. The client application may instruct control circuitry ofthe receiving user equipment to generate the guidance applicationdisplays.

Content and/or media guidance data delivered to user equipment devices402, 404, and 406 may be over-the-top (OTT) content. OTT contentdelivery allows Internet-enabled user devices, including any userequipment device described above, to receive content that is transferredover the Internet, including any content described above, in addition tocontent received over cable or satellite connections. OTT content isdelivered via an Internet connection provided by an Internet serviceprovider (ISP), but a third party distributes the content. The ISP maynot be responsible for the viewing abilities, copyrights, orredistribution of the content, and may only transfer IP packets providedby the OTT content provider. Examples of OTT content providers includeYOUTUBE, NETFLIX, and HULU, which provide audio and video via IPpackets. Youtube is a trademark owned by Google Inc., Netflix is atrademark owned by Netflix Inc., and Hulu is a trademark owned by Hulu,LLC. OTT content providers may additionally or alternatively providemedia guidance data described above. In addition to content and/or mediaguidance data, providers of OTT content can distribute media guidanceapplications (e.g., web-based applications or cloud-based applications),or the content can be displayed by media guidance applications stored onthe user equipment device.

Media guidance system 400 is intended to illustrate a number ofapproaches, or network configurations, by which user equipment devicesand sources of content and guidance data may communicate with each otherfor the purpose of accessing content and providing media guidance. Theembodiments described herein may be applied in any one or a subset ofthese approaches, or in a system employing other approaches fordelivering content and providing media guidance. The following fourapproaches provide specific illustrations of the generalized example ofFIG. 4 .

In one approach, user equipment devices may communicate with each otherwithin a home network. User equipment devices can communicate with eachother directly via short-range point-to-point communication schemesdescribed above, via indirect paths through a hub or other similardevice provided on a home network, or via communications network 414.Each of the multiple individuals in a single home may operate differentuser equipment devices on the home network. As a result, it may bedesirable for various media guidance information or settings to becommunicated between the different user equipment devices. For example,it may be desirable for users to maintain consistent media guidanceapplication settings on different user equipment devices within a homenetwork, as described in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. PatentPublication No. 2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005. Different types ofuser equipment devices in a home network may also communicate with eachother to transmit content. For example, a user may transmit content fromuser computer equipment to a portable video player or portable musicplayer.

In a second approach, users may have multiple types of user equipment bywhich they access content and obtain media guidance. For example, someusers may have home networks that are accessed by in-home and mobiledevices. Users may control in-home devices via a media guidanceapplication implemented on a remote device. For example, users mayaccess an online media guidance application on a website via a personalcomputer at their office, or a mobile device such as a PDA orweb-enabled mobile telephone. The user may set various settings (e.g.,recordings, reminders, or other settings) on the online guidanceapplication to control the user's in-home equipment. The online guidemay control the user's equipment directly, or by communicating with amedia guidance application on the user's in-home equipment. Varioussystems and methods for user equipment devices communicating, where theuser equipment devices are in locations remote from each other, isdiscussed in, for example, Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,046,801, issuedOct. 25, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

In a third approach, users of user equipment devices inside and outsidea home can use their media guidance application to communicate directlywith content source 416 to access content. Specifically, within a home,users of user television equipment 402 and user computer equipment 404may access the media guidance application to navigate among and locatedesirable content. Users may also access the media guidance applicationoutside of the home using wireless user communications devices 406 tonavigate among and locate desirable content.

In a fourth approach, user equipment devices may operate in a cloudcomputing environment to access cloud services. In a cloud computingenvironment, various types of computing services for content sharing,storage or distribution (e.g., video sharing sites or social networkingsites) are provided by a collection of network-accessible computing andstorage resources, referred to as “the cloud.” For example, the cloudcan include a collection of server computing devices, which may belocated centrally or at distributed locations, that provide cloud-basedservices to various types of users and devices connected via a networksuch as the Internet via communications network 414. These cloudresources may include one or more content sources 416 and one or moremedia guidance data sources 418. In addition or in the alternative, theremote computing sites may include other user equipment devices, such asuser television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, and wirelessuser communications device 406. For example, the other user equipmentdevices may provide access to a stored copy of a video or a streamedvideo. In such embodiments, user equipment devices may operate in apeer-to-peer manner without communicating with a central server.

The cloud provides access to services, such as content storage, contentsharing, or social networking services, among other examples, as well asaccess to any content described above, for user equipment devices.Services can be provided in the cloud through cloud computing serviceproviders, or through other providers of online services. For example,the cloud-based services can include a content storage service, acontent sharing site, a social networking site, or other services viawhich user-sourced content is distributed for viewing by others onconnected devices. These cloud-based services may allow a user equipmentdevice to store content to the cloud and to receive content from thecloud rather than storing content locally and accessing locally-storedcontent.

A user may use various content capture devices, such as camcorders,digital cameras with video mode, audio recorders, mobile phones, andhandheld computing devices, to record content. The user can uploadcontent to a content storage service on the cloud either directly, forexample, from user computer equipment 404 or wireless usercommunications device 406 having content capture feature. Alternatively,the user can first transfer the content to a user equipment device, suchas user computer equipment 404. The user equipment device storing thecontent uploads the content to the cloud using a data transmissionservice on communications network 414. In some embodiments, the userequipment device itself is a cloud resource, and other user equipmentdevices can access the content directly from the user equipment deviceon which the user stored the content.

Cloud resources may be accessed by a user equipment device using, forexample, a web browser, a media guidance application, a desktopapplication, a mobile application, and/or any combination of accessapplications of the same. The user equipment device may be a cloudclient that relies on cloud computing for application delivery, or theuser equipment device may have some functionality without access tocloud resources. For example, some applications running on the userequipment device may be cloud applications, i.e., applications deliveredas a service over the Internet, while other applications may be storedand run on the user equipment device. In some embodiments, a user devicemay receive content from multiple cloud resources simultaneously. Forexample, a user device can stream audio from one cloud resource whiledownloading content from a second cloud resource. Or a user device candownload content from multiple cloud resources for more efficientdownloading. In some embodiments, user equipment devices can use cloudresources for processing operations such as the processing operationsperformed by processing circuitry described in relation to FIG. 3 .

As referred herein, the term “in response to” refers to initiated as aresult of. For example, a first action being performed in response toanother action may include interstitial steps between the first actionand the second action. As referred herein, the term “directly inresponse to” refers to caused by. For example, a first action beingperformed directly in response to another action may not includeinterstitial steps between the first action and the second action.

FIG. 5 depicts an illustrative user equipment displaying a userinterface of a media consumption application, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure. FIG. 5 depicts user equipment 500, whichmay be any of user television equipment 402, user computer equipment404, and wireless user communications device 406. Control circuitry 304is installed on the user equipment 500 and executes media consumptionapplication 502, which may have any of the described capabilities ofmedia guidance application 100. Control circuitry 304 may generate fordisplay a graphical user interface for media consumption application 502on display 312. Control circuitry 304 may generate for display time bar504, which may comprise any indication of progress of media control,such as a start time, an end time, scene indicators and otherdemarcations, and the like.

In some embodiments, control circuitry (e.g., control circuitry 304) mayreceive a first selection, made by a first user of media consumptionapplication 502 via user input interface 310, of an identifier of asecond user, where media consumption application 502 provides access toa variety of media. The identifier of a second user may consist of astring of characters that could be matched to metadata in a stored userprofile in a data structure corresponding to the second user. The stringof characters may refer to a name, birthdate, user handle (profilename), or any other identifying characteristic of the second user storedin the user profile for the second user. Control circuitry 304 mayaccess, via communications network 414, media guidance data source 418,which contains a plurality of data structures associated with userprofiles containing associated metadata, such as the user's name,handle, birthdate, etc.

For example, control circuitry 304 may access a three-dimensional matrixstored at media guidance data source 418, where each user profile (i.e.,a data structure corresponding to a user) is a two-dimensional slice ofthe stored matrix. Control circuitry 304 may determine the second userthat the first user desires to select by comparing the string ofcharacters to stored metadata in the data structure associated with thesecond user.

For instance, control circuitry 304 may receive a selection by the firstuser from user input interface 310 of an indication of a second user,such as his or her sibling, whose progress consuming media the firstuser is interested in. Control circuitry 304 may receive the selectionof the identifier of the second user directly from the first user viauser input interface 310, or may receive the selection of the identifierof the second user from the first user selecting an option with anassociated identifier. For instance, control circuitry 304 may receive aselection from the first user via user input interface 310 of a name ofa second user that he or she is interested in, such as his or hersibling's name, “Joe,” or a user's handle “joe.12345.” As anotherexample, control circuitry 304 may receive a selection of an identifierof the second user from the first user, via user input interface 310,selecting an option that is associated with the second user, such as anicon with an image of Joe. Control circuitry 304 may associate anidentifier of a second user with the icon and receive the selection ofthe identifier of the second user upon control circuitry 304 receiving aselection of the icon.

Control circuitry 304 may then determine the second user that the firstuser desired to select based on comparing the received first selectionwith an identifier corresponding to the second user, the sibling, storedin a data structure associated with the second user. The data structuremay be located at a media guidance data source 418 and accessed bycontrol circuitry 304 through a communications network 414, as describedabove.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may receive a secondselection, made by the first user, of an identifier of media, where theidentifier corresponds to first media accessible through mediaconsumption application 502. The identifier of media may comprise astring of characters that could be matched to metadata in a stored userprofile in the second data structure corresponding to the second user.The second data structure may contain metadata associated with media theuser has consumed, progress the user has made consuming media, andinformation about the user. The string of characters could refer to atitle, actor, studio name, or any other identifying characteristic ofmedia.

Control circuitry 304 may access the second data structure located onmedia guidance data source 418, which contains a plurality of userprofiles with associated metadata, via communications network 414, asdescribed above. For instance, control circuitry 304 may receive aselection from a user of a first media, such as the program series“Seinfeld,” the first user is interested in. Control circuitry 304 inthis case may receive a selection of an identifier corresponding to thefirst media, “Seinfeld,” such as the title of the show or an actorassociated with the show, such as “Jerry Seinfeld.” Control circuitry304 may receive the selection of the identifier of media in the same wayas was described for receiving the selection of a second user above.Control circuitry 304 may then determine the first media that the firstuser desired to select based on comparing the received second selectionwith an identifier corresponding to the first media, “Seinfeld,” storedin the second data structure.

In some embodiments, in response to receiving both the first selectionand the second selection, control circuitry 304 may monitor for accessof the first media by the first user. For example, control circuitry 304may store the media identifier associated with media 520 selected by thefirst user, the series “Seinfeld,” in a first data structure associatedwith the first user. The first data structure may be the same datastructure as the data structure associated with the first user stored atmedia guidance data source 418. Control circuitry may access mediaguidance data source 418 via communications network 414.

For example, control circuitry 304 may store the selection of media 520in an element of the first data structure that corresponds to a list ofmedia the first user is interested in. Control circuitry 304 may receiveindication that the first user is using media consumption application502 to consume media with a second media identifier. For example,control circuitry 304 may receive an indication that the first user haslogged in to an account associated with the first user and is accessingmedia. In response to receiving this indication, control circuitry 304may query the first data structure to determine if the currentlyconsumed media with the second media identifier is the same as the firstmedia identifier, corresponding to “Seinfeld,” stored in the first datastructure.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may detect, during themonitoring, that the first user is accessing media 520. For example,control circuitry 304 may detect, based on the monitoring by the controlcircuitry, that the first user has accessed and is currently consumingthe series “Seinfeld.”

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may compare, while the firstuser is accessing media 520, the consumption progress of the first userwith respect to the first media with a consumption progress of thesecond user. For example, control circuitry 304 may query a first datastructure associated with the first user for the first consumptionprogress of the first user with respect to the first media, the series“Seinfeld,” and may retrieve a value corresponding to the firstconsumption progress of the first user which could be, for instance, 10minutes into episode 5 of season 4. Control circuitry 304 may then querya second data structure associated with the second user for the secondconsumption progress of the sibling with respect to the first media, theseries “Seinfeld,” and may retrieve a value corresponding to the secondconsumption progress of the sibling which could be, for instance, 15minutes into episode 5 of season 4.

Control circuitry 304 may query the data structure by executing adatabase query language script, such as SQL, utilizing the declarative“Select” command to access data in a particular table or expression. Forexample, control circuitry may query media guidance data source 418,which may contain a plurality of data structures associated with usersand may, for instance, be organized into a three-dimensional matrix. Thethree-dimensional matrix may be organized where the third dimensionrepresents each user and where the first and second dimensions may berows and columns of data associated with each user, such as user handle(profile name) and media that the user has accessed. In this example,the first and second data structures would correspond to the rows andcolumns with information associated with each user, such that an entryin a row or column may correspond to consumption progress for a userwith respect to media 520.

For example, if control circuitry wanted to receive the consumptionprogress of the first user with respect to media 520, a query may besent to media guidance data source 418 containing the coordinatescorresponding to (“Joe,” row, col), where row and col represent thelocation of the media consumption progress for media 520. Controlcircuitry 304 may then compare the first consumption progress and thesecond consumption progress by subtracting the first consumptionprogress from the second consumption progress.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may determine, based on thecomparing, that the first user has caught up to the consumption progressof the second user. For example, control circuitry 304 may receive acomparison result of the first consumption progress of the first userwith the second consumption progress of the second user for media 520.Control circuitry 304 may then determine whether the comparison resultindicates the first user has caught up to the consumption progress ofthe second user. Control circuitry 304 may make the determination thefirst user has caught up based on comparison with an operant definitionfor what it means to be “caught up.” In the most general sense, “caughtup” means that the first user is near the media consumption progress ofthe second user. More specifically, “caught up” may mean that the mediaconsumption progress of the first user is within a certain threshold ofthe media consumption progress of the second user. As another example,“caught up” may mean the media consumption progress of the first user isat a point identical to the media consumption progress of the seconduser.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may determine that the firstuser has caught up to the consumption progress of the second user basedon a threshold criterion, where the threshold criterion defines a rangeof relative consumption progress of the first user with respect toconsumption progress of the second user that qualifies the first user'sconsumption progress as being caught up to the second user's consumptionprogress. The threshold criterion may be that the first user has caughtup to the same exact point as the second user consuming media or may bethat the first user has gotten close to catching up to the second user,where “close” could mean the first user is a few minutes away.Additionally, the threshold criterion could mean that the first user hasreached the credits of an episode (based on proximity to the end of theepisode) of a series and the second user's progress is at the beginningof the next episode; the same process could be true of the first userreaching the same season as the second user and so on. The thresholdcriterion may be stored in storage 308 or anywhere accessible to controlcircuitry 304 via communications network 414, such as media guidancedata source 418.

For example, control circuitry 304 may determine the consumptionprogress in media 520 of the first user is 5 minutes away from theconsumption progress in media 520 of the second user. If, for instance,the threshold criterion is that the first consumption progress of thefirst user and the second consumption progress of the second user arewithin 10 minutes of each other, then control circuitry 304 maydetermine the threshold condition is met.

As another example, control circuitry 304 may determine that the firstuser's consumption progress is at the credits of episode 4 of media 520(based on the consumption progress being near the end of the totalprogress for an episode) and the second user's consumption progress isat the beginning of episode 5. In this case, control circuitry maydetermine that the proximity of the first user to the end of the episodelikely means the first user is watching credits for the episode and maydetermine the threshold criterion is met. In response to the thresholdcondition being met, control circuitry 304 may send a signal to graphicsprocessing circuitry to generate for display an alert that the firstuser has caught up to the second user.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may receive a selection fromthe first user, through user input interface 310, of a given thresholdcriterion. For example, control circuitry 304 may generate for display aplurality of selectable threshold criterion options and may receive fromthe user, via user input interface 310, a third selection from the userof a given threshold criterion option of the plurality of selectablethreshold criterion options that corresponds to the given thresholdcriterion, where control circuitry 304 uses the given thresholdcriterion when comparing the comparison result with the thresholdcriterion. Control circuitry 304 may generate for display options forthe threshold criterion, for example: 5 minutes, 10 minutes, sameepisode, or same season. Control circuitry 304 may then receive, viauser input interface 310, a selection by the user of a given thresholdcriterion, for instance 5 minutes. Control circuitry 304 will use thegiven threshold criterion, 5 minutes, which is selected by the firstuser, as the threshold criterion when control circuitry 304 determinesif the first user has caught up to the second user.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may synchronize informationstored in data structures associated with specific users between mediaguidance data source 418 and storage 308. Control circuitry 304 mayperiodically update metadata in storage 308 from media guidance datasource 418 via communications network 414. The periodic updating may beany number of discrete updates in a given timeframe, such as twice a dayor twice an hour.

If an update time is missed due to lack of communications network 414connectivity, control circuitry 304 may attempt to update andsynchronize metadata associated with the user upon the return of accessto communications network 414. For example, control circuitry 304 maylose connection with media guidance data source 418 upon receiving auser selection of an “Airplane Mode,” where control circuitry 304 turnsoff communication functionality, such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. If aregular update time is missed while in “Airplane Mode,” controlcircuitry 304 may attempt to update and synchronize metadata associatedwith the first user once control circuitry 304 receives an indicationthat “Airplane Mode” is off and access to communications network 414 isavailable.

Control circuitry 304 may update a data structure associated with thefirst user stored in storage 308 with metadata stored in a datastructure associated with the first user at media guidance data source418. For example, control circuitry 304 may determine the mediaconsumption progress of the first user and the second user for media 520based on querying media guidance data source 418, as described above.Control circuitry 304 may store these values in storage 308, such thateven without access to media guidance data source 418, the first usercan continue from their previous consumption progress consuming media520 and control circuitry 304 can monitor for the first user catching upto the second user's consumption progress.

For instance, control circuitry 304 may update media consumptionprogress associated with the first user stored in storage 308 on thefirst user's mobile phone every morning at 9:00 am from mediaconsumption progress stored in a database associated with the first userlocated at media guidance data source 418. When control circuitry 304loses network connectivity because the first user has boarded anairplane at 10:00 am one day, control circuitry 304 may retrieve fromstorage 308 media consumption progress that is up to date based on the9:00 am synchronization and the first user can resume consuming mediafrom wherever he or she left off.

Control circuitry 304 may additionally periodically update metadata inmedia guidance data source 418 from storage 308 via communicationsnetwork 414. Control circuitry 304 may update metadata stored in a datastructure associated with the first user at media guidance data source418 with metadata in a data structure associated with the first userstored in storage 308. For instance, control circuitry 304 may updatethe consumption progress of the first user in a data structureassociated with the first user at media guidance data source 418 withthe progress the first user has made consuming media 520 whiledisconnected from media guidance data source 418, perhaps while thefirst user is on an airplane.

For example, control circuitry 304 may monitor the media consumptionprogress of the first user with respect to media 520, as describedabove. Control circuitry 304 may store this value in storage 308, evenwithout any access to media guidance data source 418. Control circuitry304 may update the media consumption progress of the first user in mediaguidance data source 418 periodically, or when access to media guidancedata source 418 is available. For instance, control circuitry 304 maylose access to media guidance data source 418 while the first user is onan airplane consuming media 520. Upon landing, control circuitry 304 maytransmit the updated media consumption progress to media guidance datasource 418 via communications network 414, updating the value for theconsumption progress of the first user consuming media 520.

In some embodiments, in response to control circuitry 304 determiningthat the first user has caught up to the consumption progress of thesecond user, control circuitry 304 may generate for display an alert 506indicating the first user has caught up to the second user. For example,in response to control circuitry 304 determining that the first user hascaught up to the consumption progress of a second user in media 520,control circuitry 304 generates for display alert 506. Alert 506 isdisplayed on display 312 and conveys to the first user that they havecaught up to the second user. For example, control circuitry 304 maygenerate for display an alert 506 that visually conveys that the firstuser has caught up to the second user. Additionally or in place of thevisual alert 506, control circuitry 304 may generate an audio alert toconvey that the first user has caught up to the second user.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may execute a secondapplication to determine the first user has caught up to the second userconsuming media 520. The second application may be provided by a thirdparty provider that is not the provider of media consumption application502. Control circuitry 304 may determine that the first user has caughtup based on comparing the media consumption progress of the two users,as described above. Control circuitry 304 may access the mediaconsumption progress in storage 308 or at media guidance data source 418via communications network 414.

In this instance, the determination by control circuitry 304 that thefirst user has caught up is not made by media consumption application502 but by the second application, thus control circuitry 304 may not beable to render for display the alert 506 displayed in media consumptionapplication 502 that the user has caught up. In this case, controlcircuitry 304 may transmit an alert that the first user has caught up tothe second user to the first user's cellular telephone, computer, orother user equipment 500 that can receive communication. For example,control circuitry 304 may minimize media consumption application 502 anddisplay the alert in a different window that was generated by controlcircuitry 304 executing the second application. As another example,control circuitry 304 may send a text message to the first user whilethe first user is consuming media 520 that the user has caught up to thesecond user's progress consuming media 520.

In some embodiments, upon control circuitry 304 determining that theconsumption progress of the first user has caught up to the second userwith respect to media 520, control circuitry 304 may pause playback ofthe currently consumed media 520 without input from the first user,while control circuitry 304 generates for display alert 506 that thefirst user has caught up to the second user. For example, in response tocontrol circuitry 304 determining that the consumption progress of thefirst user has caught up to the consumption progress of the second userin media 520, control circuitry 304 may pause, without further inputfrom the first user, playback of media 520 currently being consumed bythe first user, where control circuitry 304 generates for display alert506 while the playback of media 520 is paused.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may generate for displayalert 506 with an option to pause playback 508 of the currently consumedfirst media. For example, control circuitry 304 may generate for displayan option for the first user to pause playback 508 of the currentlyconsumed media 520. Upon receiving a selection of the option to pauseplayback 508 by the first user using user input interface 310, controlcircuitry 304 may pause playback of media 520 while the first userdecides whether they want to continue consuming media 520.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may generate for displayalert 506 with an option to transmit a communication 516 to the seconduser. For example, control circuitry 304 may generate for display anoption for the first user to transmit a communication 516 to the seconduser that the first user has caught up to the second user with respectto consumption of media 520. Upon receiving a selection of the option totransmit a communication 516 by the first user using user inputinterface 310, control circuitry 304 may send the communication thefirst user has caught up to the second user with respect to consumingmedia 520 via communications network 414. Control circuitry 304 maytransmit the communication to the second user's computer, cellulartelephone, television set, or other user equipment 500 that can receivethe communication. For example, control circuitry 304 may transmit analert to the second user's cellular telephone that the first user hascaught up to his or her progress viewing “Seinfeld.”

In some embodiments, upon selection of the option to transmit acommunication 516, control circuitry 304 may additionally transmit otherinformation relevant to the second user about the first user'sconsumption of media 520. Other information may comprise an indicationthat the first user plans to stop consuming media 520 and plans to waitto consume more of media 520 until a future time. Control circuitry 304may generate for display a field allowing user input via user inputinterface 310, such as text, to customize the communication transmittedto the second user. Control circuitry 304 may receive the user input andtransmit it as part of communication 516.

Control circuitry 304 may additionally present options to notifymultiple users, who may be part of a group, the first user has caught upto one or more of said users' progress consuming media 520. Controlcircuitry 304 may present an option to notify users who have notconsumed media 520 if they are part of the specified group. For example,control circuitry 304 may determine that a family including a mother,father, and two children, are part of the group, “Joe's Family” based onmetadata stored in data structures associated with each user, asdescribed above. Control circuitry 304 may receive an indication thatthe mother is consuming media 520 and has caught up to the father, asdescribed above. Control circuitry 304 may generate an option to notifyall other users in the group, “Joe's Family” that the mother has caughtup to the father's progress consuming media 520. Alternatively oradditionally, control circuitry 304 may generate an option to notifyonly other users in the group who have consumed media 520, as determinedfrom metadata of the user profiles for the four family members, that themother has caught up to the father consuming media 520. Alternatively oradditionally, control circuitry 304 may generate an option to notifyonly the user, the father, whom the mother has caught up to consumingmedia 520.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may generate for displayalert 506 with an option to ignore 510 the alert 506. For example,control circuitry 304 may generate for display an option for the firstuser to ignore 510 alert 506 for currently consumed media 520. Uponreceiving a selection by the first user using user input interface 310of option to ignore 510, control circuitry 304 may cease generating fordisplay alert 506 so that the first user can continue consuming media520 without alert 506 being displayed.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may generate for displayalert 506 with social media information 512 for the second user. Thesocial media information could be any information, such as statusupdates, photos, or posts, which could be obtained from a social mediaaccount associated with the second user (e.g. a Facebook account). Forexample, control circuitry 304 may retrieve from the second databaseassociated with the second user social media account names, updates, orother information from the social media accounts of the second user.Control circuitry 304 may access the second data structure related tothe second user at media guidance data source 418, as is describedabove. Control circuitry 304 may then query and retrieve social mediainformation corresponding to the second user, by querying forinformation stored in the data structure, as described above. Uponretrieval of the social media information, control circuitry 304 maygenerate for display alert 506 with social media information for thesecond user 512.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may generate for displayalert 506 with a selectable icon 514 associated with a second media,where the first user has not caught up to the media consumption progressof an other user. The other user could be the second user whom the firstuser has caught up to consuming media 520, or a different third user.For example, control circuitry 304 may query a first data structureassociated with the first user to identify a second media the first userhas accessed. Control circuitry 304 may then query a second datastructure associated with the second user to identify a third media thesecond user has accessed. Alternatively, control circuitry 304 may querya third data structure associated with the different third user toidentify a third media the third user has accessed. For example, controlcircuitry 304 may query the data structure associated with an uncle,based on metadata associating the profile of the uncle with the firstuser, to identify a third media the uncle has accessed. The datastructures associated with the first, second, or third users may beaccessed via communications network 414 from media guidance data source418 and are consistent with the data structures described above.

Control circuitry 304 may determine the second media to query based onmetadata associated with the first media. For example, control circuitry304 may determine from metadata stored in the first database that media520 is closely related to a second media, “Curb Your Enthusiasm,”because “Larry David” is listed as a writer and producer for both shows.Control circuitry 304 may query the second database for the media, “CurbYour Enthusiasm” before control circuitry 304 queries the seconddatabase for other media, because it is determined to be more relevantto what the first user is currently consuming based on metadata in thefirst database associated with both programs.

Control circuitry 304 may compare data of the second media and the thirdmedia, such as associated media identifiers, to determine whether theyare the same media. In response to determining that the second media isthe same as the third media, control circuitry 304 may determine if thefirst user has caught up to the consumption progress of the second userwith respect to the second media.

Control circuitry 304 may generate for display on alert 506 a selectableindication 514 that the first user has not caught up to the second userwith respect to the second media. For instance, control circuitry 304may determine that the first user has caught up to a second user'sprogress consuming media 520, but control circuitry 304 may determinethat the first user has not caught up to the progress of the second userconsuming a second media, “House Of Cards.” Control circuitry 304 maygenerate for display a selectable icon 514 that the first user has notyet caught up to the second user consuming “House of Cards” with analert 506 indicating that the first user has caught up to the seconduser consuming “Seinfeld.” Control circuitry 304 may detect selection ofthe selectable option, rendered and displayed on alert 506, by the firstuser to begin consuming the media, “House of Cards.” In response to theselection, control circuitry 304 may generate for display contentrelating to “House of Cards” received from content source 416.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may generate for displayalert 506 with a selectable icon 516 associated with a second media thathas not been accessed by the first user, but has been accessed by another user. The other user could be the second user whom the first userhas caught up to consuming media 520, or a different third user. Forexample, control circuitry 304 may query a second data structureassociated with the second user to identify a second media the seconduser has accessed, in the same manner as is described above.Alternatively, control circuitry 304 may query a third data structureassociated with the different third user to identify a second media thethird user has accessed, as described above. Control circuitry 304 maydetermine the second media to query based on comparison of metadataassociated with the first media and metadata associated with the secondmedia. Control circuitry 304 may prioritize querying for second mediasimilar to the first media, based on comparison of metadata associatedwith the first and second media, as described above.

Control circuitry 304 may then determine whether the first user hasaccessed the second media by querying a first data structure associatedwith the first user to determine if the first user has not accessed thesecond media. In response to determining that the first user has notaccessed the second media, control circuitry 304 may retrieve mediaconsumption progress for the second media from the second datastructure, as was described above. Control circuitry 304 may determinewhether a threshold criterion is met by the media consumption progressfor the second media by the second user.

For instance, if control circuitry 304 determines a second user “Joe”has consumed two episodes of the first season of the second media, theprogram series “Breaking Bad,” which contains multiple seasons, thefirst user may be able to catch up. If the threshold criterion isdefined as less than half of a program series has been watched, controlcircuitry 304 may determine in this case that the second media doesfulfill the threshold criterion. In response to determining that thethreshold criterion is met by the media consumption progress for thesecond media by the second user, control circuitry 304 may generate fordisplay with the alert 506 a selectable option 516 for the first user toaccess the second media, “Breaking Bad,” where the selectable option 516may be accompanied by an indicator of the media consumption progress bythe second user of the second media.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may generate for displayalert 506 with an option 510 to continue consumption of media 520.Control circuitry 304 may generate for display an option 510 to continueconsumption of media 520. Control circuitry 304 may receive a thirdselection from the first user of the option to continue consumption 510of media 520. In response to receiving the third selection, controlcircuitry 304 may transmit a notification to the second user to indicatethat the first user has caught up to the second user and is continuingconsumption of media 520. Control circuitry 304 may send the alert thatthe first user has caught up to the second user with respect toconsuming media 520 via communications network 414. For example, controlcircuitry 304 may transmit the notification to a second user's computer,cellular telephone, television set, or other user equipment 500 that canreceive the notification.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may generate for displayselectable options for one or more users associated with a first userwhen control circuitry 304 determines that the first user is accessingmedia consumption application 502. For example, control circuitry 304may determine that a first user, a wife, is accessing media consumptionapplication 502 as described above. Control circuitry 304 may generatefor display a plurality of selectable options corresponding toindividual users. Control circuitry 304 may determine which selectableoptions to generate for display based on accessing a data structureassociated with the wife. For instance, control circuitry 304 may detectthat the first user, a wife in a family, is accessing media consumptionapplication 502, as described above. Control circuitry 304 may thenquery a data structure in a database, as described above, to determineif the first user, the wife, has set any additional users for heraccount. Control circuitry 304 may then generate for display selectableuser options based on information corresponding to the users retrievedfrom the wife's account. For example, control circuitry 304 maydetermine based on querying the data structure associated with the wifethat the wife's account is associated with a husband and a child. Inthis instance, control circuitry may generate for display selectableoptions corresponding to the husband and the child.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may determine which optionsto generate based on receiving communication from nearby user devices.Control circuitry 304 may receive an indication through Bluetoothpairing, Bonjour protocol, or other means for relaying from a deviceinformation that a user is nearby and could be consuming media 520.Control circuitry 304 may compare a signature received from a nearbyuser device with signatures stored in a data structure containing aplurality of users at media guidance data source 418 to determine a userthe device corresponds to. In response to determining the user thedevice corresponds to, control circuitry 304 may generate for display aselectable option associated with the user. For instance, controlcircuitry 304 may determine that the husband is consuming media 520 withhis wife based on receiving a Bluetooth pairing signature from hismobile telephone. Control circuitry 304 may then generate for display aselectable option corresponding to the husband.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may receive an indicationfrom a user of a selection of one or more particular users consumingmedia 520 together. For example, control circuitry 304 may receive anindication, via user input interface 310, that the wife is consumingmedia with both the husband and the child.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may retrieve the mediaconsumption progress for media 520 of the selected one or more usersfrom data structures associated with the selected one or more users. Inresponse to receiving the selection of the husband and the child,control circuitry 304 may access data structures corresponding to thehusband and the child and retrieve values corresponding to theirconsumption progress for a given media 520, as described above.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may update the mediaconsumption progress for media 520 with respect to the users selected.For example, once the husband has been selected as consuming media 520,control circuitry 304 may update the media consumption progress for thehusband with respect to media 520 in addition to the media consumptionprogress of the wife with respect to media 520.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may cease updating the mediaconsumption progress of a user if control circuitry 304 detects he orshe has stopped consuming media 520 and may store the value in the datastructure associated with the user. For example, control circuitry 304may detect that the husband has ceased consuming media 520 based on nolonger receiving a Bluetooth pairing signature from his mobiletelephone. Control circuitry 304 may cease updating the mediaconsumption progress of media 520 for the husband and may store thevalue associated with the media consumption progress in a data structureassociated with the husband. As another example, control circuitry 304may generate for display a selectable option for each user currentlyconsuming media 520. Upon selection of the selectable optioncorresponding to the husband, control circuitry 304 determines that thehusband is no longer consuming media 520.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may detect, at a later time,access of media 520 by one of the selected users. Control circuitry 304may begin playback of media 520 based on the media consumption progressfor media 520 stored in a data structure associated with the user, whichwas updated while the user was consuming media 520 with the first user.For example, control circuitry 304 may detect that the husband isaccessing media at a time later than when he accessed media with hiswife. Control circuitry 304 may begin playback of media 520 based on themedia consumption progress stored in the data structure associated withthe husband, which was updated while he was consuming media 520 with hiswife, even though he was not the primary consumer, (i.e., logged in tohis account) while consuming media 520.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of illustrative steps involved in determining if afirst user has caught up to the media consumption progress of a seconduser, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. Forexample, process 600 may be executed by control circuitry 304 (FIG. 3 )to determine if a first user consuming media has caught up to theprogress of a second user.

Process 600 begins at 602, where control circuitry 304 may receive afirst selection, made by a first user of media consumption application502 executed by control circuitry 304, of an identifier of a second userand a second selection made by the first user of an identifier of afirst media. The identifier of a second user may consist of a string ofcharacters that could be matched to metadata in a stored user profile ina data structure corresponding to the second user. The string ofcharacters could refer to a name, birthdate, profile name, or any otheridentifying characteristic of the second user. The identifier of a firstmedia may consist of a string of characters that could be matched tometadata in a stored user profile in a data structure corresponding tothe second user. The string of characters could refer to a title, actor,studio name, or any other identifying characteristic of media. Controlcircuitry may access via communications network 414 the data structurewhich may contain metadata associated with media the user has consumed,progress the user has made consuming media, and information about theuser. Control circuitry 304 may query, access, and retrieve data from adata structure as described in FIG. 5 . For example, control circuitry304 may receive a selection made by the first user of an identifier of asecond user, “Joe,” and an identifier of a first media, “Seinfeld.”Control circuitry 304 may determine, through querying media guidancedata source 418, which contains data structures corresponding to aplurality of users, the identifier “Joe” corresponds to second user Joe,a sibling of the first user. In the same way, control circuitry 304 maydetermine that the identifier of a first media received, “Seinfeld,”corresponds to the media “Seinfeld” (i.e., media 520).

Process 600 may continue to 604, where control circuitry 304 may monitorfor access of the first media by the first user. For example, inresponse to receiving first user selections, the control circuitry maystore the unique media identifier associated with the series “Seinfeld”in a first data structure. Control circuitry 304 may receive indicationthat the first user is using media consumption application 502 toconsume media with a second media identifier. In response to receivingthis indication, control circuitry 304 may query the first datastructure to determine if the media with the second media identifiercurrently consumed is the same as the first media identifier,corresponding to media 520 stored in the data structure.

Process 600 may continue to 606, where control circuitry 304 may detectthat the first user is accessing the first media. For example, controlcircuitry 304 may detect, based on monitoring by control circuitry 304that the first user has accessed and is consuming the series “Seinfeld.”If first user access of the first media is not detected, controlcircuitry 304 may continue to monitor for access of the first media bythe first user.

Process 600 may continue to 608, where control circuitry 304 may comparea first consumption progress of the first user with respect to media 520with a second consumption progress of the second user with respect tomedia 520. For example, control circuitry 304 may query a first datastructure for the first consumption progress of the first user withrespect to the first media and retrieve a value corresponding to thefirst consumption progress of the first user which could be, forinstance, 10 minutes into episode 5 of season 4. Control circuitry 304may then query a second data structure for the second consumptionprogress of the second user with respect to the first media and retrievea value corresponding to the second consumption progress of the seconduser which could be, for instance, 15 minutes into episode 5 of season4. Control circuitry 304 may access and query the first data structureand the second data structure via communications network 414 on a mediaguidance data source 418, as described above in FIG. 5 . Controlcircuitry 304 may then compare the first consumption progress and thesecond consumption progress. For example, control circuitry 304 maycompare the first consumption progress of the first user with respect tomedia 520 which could be, for instance, 10 minutes into episode 5 ofseason 4 with the second consumption progress of the sibling withrespect to the media 520 and which could be, for instance, 15 minutesinto episode 5 of season 4, by subtracting the first consumptionprogress from the second consumption progress.

Process 600 may continue to 610, where control circuitry 304 maydetermine if the first user has caught up to the media consumptionprogress of the second user with respect to the first media. Forexample, control circuitry 304 may receive a comparison result of thefirst consumption progress of the first user with the second consumptionprogress of the second user. Control circuitry 304 may then determinewhether the comparison result indicates the first user has caught up tothe consumption progress of the second user.

If control circuitry 304 determines that the first user has not caughtup to the consumption progress of the second user, then process 600 mayreturn to 608, where control circuitry 304 may again compare theconsumption progress of the first and second user. The control circuitry304 makes the determination the first user has caught up based oncomparison with an operant definition for what it means to be “caughtup.” In the most general sense, “caught up” means that the first user isnear the media consumption progress of the second user. Morespecifically, “caught up” may mean that the media consumption progressof the first user is within a certain threshold of the media consumptionprogress of the second user, such as being within 5 minutes of thesecond user. As another example, “caught up” may mean the mediaconsumption progress of the first user is at a point identical to themedia consumption progress of the second user.

Process 600 may continue to 612, where control circuitry 304 maygenerate for display alert 506 indicating that the first user has caughtup to the consumption progress of the second user. For example, inresponse to control circuitry 304 determining that the first user hascaught up to the consumption progress of a second user in consumingmedia 502, alert 506 may be generated for display by control circuitry304. Control circuitry 304 generates for display alert 506, which isdisplayed on display 312 and conveys to the first user visually thatthey have caught up to the second user, for instance with text stating,“You have caught up to Joe viewing “Seinfeld.”

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of illustrative steps involved in a process forreceiving a first selection, made by a first user of a media consumptionapplication, of an identifier of a second user, as well as receiving asecond selection made by the first user, of a first media, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure. For example, process 700 may beexecuted by control circuitry 304 (FIG. 3 ) to receive the firstselection and the second selection.

Process 700 begins at 702, where control circuitry 304 may begin aprocess for receiving a first selection, made by a first user of a mediaconsumption application, of an identifier of a second user and a secondselection made by the first user, of a first media. Control circuitry304 may execute 702 when 602 of process 600 begins. For example, controlcircuitry 304 may receive a selection of an identifier of a second user,“Joe,” and a selection of an identifier of a first media, “Seinfeld.”

Process 700 may continue to 704, where control circuitry 304 may receivea first selection of an identifier of the second user. Control circuitry304 may receive a selection of an identifier of the second user, asdescribed in FIG. 5-6 . For example, control circuitry 304 may receive astring of characters, “Joe,” as an identifier of a second user from thefirst user selection.

Process 700 may continue to 706, where control circuitry 304 may comparethe identifier of the second user with metadata in storage. Forinstance, control circuitry 304 may access a plurality of datastructures associated with users from a media guidance data source 418.The plurality of data structures associated with users may be stored inmemory in data structures at media guidance data source 418. Controlcircuitry 304 may search the plurality of data structures at mediaguidance data source 418 based on the received first identifier, “Joe,”of the second user to compare the identifier with metadata associatedwith the plurality of users.

Process 700 may continue to 708, where control circuitry 304 maydetermine the second user the first user intended to select based on thecomparison with metadata in storage. Control circuitry 304 may determinea match between the received identifier, “Joe,” and a given profilestored at media guidance data source 418. In this case, controlcircuitry 304 determines the given profile corresponds to the seconduser, “Joe,” that the first user selected.

Process 700 may continue to 710, where control circuitry 304 may receivea second selection of a first media identifier of the first media.Control circuitry 304 may receive a selection of an identifier of thefirst media, as described in FIG. 5-6 . For example, control circuitry304 may receive a string of characters, “Seinfeld,” as an identifier ofa first media from the second user selection.

Process 700 may continue to 712, where control circuitry 304 may comparethe identifier of the first media with metadata in storage. Forinstance, control circuitry 304 may access a plurality of media from amedia guidance data source 418. The plurality of media may be stored inmemory in a data structure at media guidance data source 418. Controlcircuitry 304 may search the plurality of media at media guidance datasource 418 based on the received second identifier, “Seinfeld,” of thefirst media to compare the identifier with metadata associated with theplurality of media in storage.

Process 700 may continue to 714, where control circuitry 304 maydetermine the first media the first user intended to select based on thecomparison with metadata in storage. Control circuitry 304 may determinea match between the received identifier, “Seinfeld,” and a given mediastored at media guidance data source 418. In this case, controlcircuitry 304 determines the given media corresponds to the first media,“Seinfeld,” that the first user selected. The receipt of the first andthe second selection by control circuitry 304 may conclude processing of602 of process 600.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of illustrative steps involved in a process formonitoring and detecting for access of the first media by the firstuser, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. Forexample, process 800 may be executed by control circuitry 304 (FIG. 3 )to receive the first selection and the second selection.

Process 800 begins with 802, where control circuitry 304 may begin aprocess for monitoring and detecting for access of the first media bythe first user. For example, control circuitry 304 may begin a processfor monitoring and detecting for access of “Seinfeld” (i.e., media 520)by the first user. Control circuitry 304 may execute 802 when 604 ofprocess 600 begins.

Process 800 may continue to 804, where control circuitry 304 determineswhether the first user is using media consumption application 502. Forinstance, control circuitry 304 may receive a command to execute andrender for display media consumption application 502. In this case,control circuitry 304 may determine that the first user is using themedia consumption application. If control circuitry 304 determines thefirst user is not using the media consumption application, controlcircuitry 304 may continue to monitor for access of the mediaconsumption application by the first user.

If control circuitry 304 determines the first user is using mediaconsumption application 502, process 800 may continue to 806, wherecontrol circuitry may receive a second media identifier associated witha second media currently being consumed by the first user. Similar toreceiving the identifiers associated with the first and secondselections described above, control circuitry 304 may receive a secondmedia identifier associated with a second media. The second mediaidentifier may take the same general form as the first media identifierdescribed above. For instance, the identifier of the second mediareceived by control circuitry 304 could be a series of characterscorresponding to the title of the second media, such as “Seinfeld.”

Process 800 may continue to 808, where control circuitry 304 determineswhether the second media identifier is the same as the first mediaidentifier stored in the first data structure, as described above inFIG. 5-6 . Briefly, the first media identifier may be stored in thefirst data structure, associated with the first user, located at mediaguidance data source 418. Control circuitry 304 may access and comparethe first media identifier with the second media identifier. Controlcircuitry 304 may then determine whether the media identifiers are thesame. For instance, control circuitry 304 may determine that thecharacters corresponding to the first media identifier are the same asthe characters corresponding to the second media identifier and as suchthe first user is consuming media 520. This determination by controlcircuitry 304 may conclude processing of 604 of process 600 and beginprocessing of 606.

If control circuitry 304 determines that the first media identifier isnot the same as the second media identifier, control circuitry 304determines the first user is not accessing the first media 812. In thiscase, control circuitry 304 may return to step 804 to detect if the useris still using the media consumption application at some later time anddetermine if they are now consuming the first media. For instance,control circuitry 304 may detect that the first user may initially beconsuming media that is not media 520, but switches to consuming media520 after some period of time. In this way, monitoring by controlcircuitry 304 for access to the media 520 may be periodic in that itchecks the media the first user is consuming multiple times during oneinstance of the first user using the media consumption application.

If control circuitry 304 determines that the first media identifier isthe same as the second media identifier, control circuitry 304 detectsthat the first user is accessing the first media. This determination bycontrol circuitry 304 may conclude processing of 606 of process 600.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of illustrative steps of a process for comparingthe first consumption progress of the first user with respect to thefirst media with a second consumption progress of the second user, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. For example, process900 may be executed by control circuitry 304 (FIG. 3 ) to receive thefirst selection and the second selection.

Process 900 begins with 902, where control circuitry 304 may begin aprocess for comparing the first consumption progress of the first userwith respect to the first media with a second consumption progress ofthe second user with respect to the first media. For example, controlcircuitry 304 may compare the progress of the first user consuming media520 with the progress of the first user's sibling “Joe” consuming media520. Control circuitry 304 may execute 902 when 608 of process 600begins.

Process 900 may continue to 904, where control circuitry 304 mayretrieve, as a result of querying a first data structure associated withthe first user, the first consumption progress of the first user withrespect to the first media. Control circuitry 304 accessing, querying,and retrieving data from a data structure is described further in FIG.5-6 . For example, control circuitry 304 may query a first datastructure for the first consumption progress of the first user withrespect to media 520 and retrieve a value corresponding to the firstconsumption progress of the first user which could be, for instance, 10minutes into episode 5 of season 4. The first data structure may belocated at media guidance data source 418 and accessed by controlcircuitry 304 through a communications network 414.

Process 900 may continue to 906, where control circuitry 304 mayretrieve, as a result of querying a second data structure associatedwith the second user, the second consumption progress of the second userwith respect to the first media. Control circuitry accessing, querying,and retrieving data from a data structure is described further in FIG.5-6 . For example, control circuitry 304 may query a second datastructure for the second consumption progress of the sibling “Joe” withrespect to the media 520 and retrieve a value corresponding to thesecond consumption progress of the sibling which could be, for instance,15 minutes into episode 5 of season 4. The second data structure may belocated at a media guidance data source 418 and accessed by controlcircuitry 304 through a communications network 414.

Process 900 may continue to 908, where control circuitry 304 may analyzevia subtraction of the first media consumption progress from the secondmedia consumption progress, whether the first user is ahead of, equalto, or behind the second user with respect to consumption of the firstmedia and return a relative progress result. Control circuitry 304 maycalculate the relative progress result based on subtraction of one mediaconsumption progress from another. For instance, control circuitry 304may determine the first media consumption progress corresponds to 10minutes into episode 5 of season 4 and the second media consumptionprogress corresponds to 15 minutes into episode 5 of season 4.

Control circuitry 304 may receive media consumption progress in anyformat that allows control circuitry 304 to subtract them. For instance,control circuitry may receive the above examples formatted into dataobjects with variables corresponding to “season,” “episode,” and“minutes.” Each of these variables may have an associated numericalvalue. Control circuitry 304 may then subtract the numerical valuestored in the “season” variable for the first media consumption progressfrom the numerical value stored in the “season” variable for the secondmedia consumption progress, and so on. In this way, control circuitry304 may generate the relative progress result that the first mediaconsumption progress is 5 minutes behind the second media consumptionprogress, indicating the first user is 5 minutes away from reaching theexact same progress as the second user. Control circuitry 304 may thenreturn the relative progress result for use by 610 of process 600 indetermining whether the first user has caught up to the second user.This determination by control circuitry 304 of the relative progressresult may conclude processing of 608 of process 600.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of illustrative steps of a process fordetermining, based on the comparing, that the first user has caught upto the second consumption progress of the second user, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure. For example, process 1000 maybe executed by control circuitry 304 (FIG. 3 ) to receive the firstselection and the second selection.

Process 1000 begins with 1002, where control circuitry 304 may begin aprocess for determining, based on the comparing, that the first user hascaught up to the second consumption progress of the second user. Forexample, control circuitry 304 may determine that the first user hascaught up to the second user, the sibling “Joe” consuming media 520.Control circuitry 304 may execute 1002 when 610 of process 600 begins.

Process 1000 may continue to 1004, where control circuitry 304 mayreceive the relative progress result indicating the relative progress ofthe media consumption of the first user with the media consumptionprogress of the second user for consuming the first media. Controlcircuitry 304 may receive the relative progress result generated in 608of process 600. The relative progress result contains informationrelating the consumption progress of the first user and the second userfor a given first media, as described in process 900. For example,control circuitry 304 may receive the relative progress resultindicating that the first user is five minutes behind the second userconsuming media 520.

Process 1000 may continue to 1006, where control circuitry 304 maydetermine whether the relative progress result meets a thresholdcriterion. Control circuitry 304 may compare the relative progressresult with the threshold criterion. The threshold criterion could bebased on any value or range of values. For example, the thresholdcriterion could be: 5 minutes, 10 minutes, same episode, or same season.For illustrative purposes, say the threshold criterion is 10 minutes.Control circuitry 304 may use the given threshold criterion, 5 minutes,as the threshold criterion when control circuitry 304 determines if thefirst user has caught up to the second user. Control circuitry 304determines if the first user has caught up to the second user bycomparing the relative progress result to the threshold criterion. Forexample, if the relative progress result indicates that the first useris 5 minutes behind the sibling Joe's consumption progress for media520, then control circuitry 304 may determine that the relative progressresult does meet the threshold criterion.

If the relative progress result does not meet the threshold criterion,control circuitry 304 may end 610 of process 600 and return to 608 ofprocess 600. For example, if it is determined that the first user hasnot yet caught up to his or her sibling, but he or she is continuing toview media 520, control circuitry 304 may continue to compare theconsumption progress of the first user and the sibling. In this way,control circuitry 304 may check at future time points if the first userhas caught up (based on fulfilling the threshold criterion) afterconsuming more of the first media.

If control circuitry 304 determines the relative progress result doesmeet the threshold criterion, process 1000 may continue to 1008, wherecontrol circuitry 304 may trigger the alert to be generated for displaythat the first user has caught up to the second user. For example,control circuitry 304 may send an indication to prepare for display anddisplay the alert that the first user has caught up to the sibling withrespect to consuming media 520. This indication sent by controlcircuitry 304 may conclude processing of 610 of process 600.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of illustrative steps of a process for generatingfor display an alert indicating the first user has caught up to thesecond user, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. Forexample, process 1100 may be executed by control circuitry 304 (FIG. 3 )to generate for display the alert 506 indicating the first user hascaught up to the second user consuming media 520.

Process 1100 begins with 1102, where control circuitry 304 may begin aprocess for generating for display an alert indicating the first userhas caught up to the second user. For example, control circuitry 304 maygenerate for display an alert indicating the first user has caught up tothe sibling with respect to consuming media 520. Control circuitry 304may execute 1102 when 612 of process 600 begins.

Process 1100 may continue to 1104, where control circuitry 304 mayreceive an indication that the first user has caught up to the seconduser. Control circuitry 304 may determine that the first user has caughtup to the second user as described in process 1000. In response to thisdetermination, control circuitry 304 may send an indication to rendergraphics for an alert indicating that the first user has caught up tothe second user.

Process 1100 may continue to 1106, where control circuitry 304 mayrender graphics for the alert that the first user has caught up to thesecond user. Control circuitry 304 receives the indication that thefirst user has caught up and renders the graphics corresponding to thealert for display.

Process 1100 may continue to 1108, where control circuitry 304 mayoutput on display 312 the alert that the first user has caught up to thesecond user. For example, control circuitry 304 may transmit therendered alert for viewing by the first user on display 312. Thistransmission of the alert for display sent by graphics circuitry mayconclude processing of 612 of process 600.

It should be noted that processes 600-1100 or any step thereof could beperformed on, or provided by, any of the devices shown in FIGS. 3-5 .For example, any of processes 600-1100 may be executed by controlcircuitry 304 (FIG. 3 ) as instructed by control circuitry implementedon user equipment 402, 404, and/or 406 (FIG. 4 ) in order to generatefor display an alert that the first user has caught up to the seconduser consuming with respect to consuming media. In addition, one or moresteps of processes 600-1100 may be incorporated into or combined withone or more steps of any other process or embodiment.

It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of each of FIGS. 6-11may be used with any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition,the steps and descriptions described in relation to FIGS. 6-11 may bedone in alternative orders or in parallel to further the purposes ofthis disclosure. For example, each of these steps may be performed inany order or in parallel or substantially simultaneously to reduce lagor increase the speed of the system or method. Furthermore, it should benoted that any of the devices or equipment discussed in relation toFIGS. 3-5 could be used to perform one or more of the steps in FIGS.6-11 .

It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that methodsinvolved in the present invention may be embodied in a computer programproduct that includes a computer-usable and/or readable medium. Forexample, such a computer-usable medium may consist of a read-only memorydevice, such as a CD-ROM disk or conventional ROM device, or a randomaccess memory, such as a hard drive device or a computer diskette,having a computer-readable program code stored thereon. It should alsobe understood that methods, techniques, and processes involved in thepresent invention may be executed using processing circuitry. Forinstance, monitoring for when a user accesses particular media may beperformed by processing circuitry (e.g., by processing circuitry 306 ofFIG. 3 ). The processing circuitry, for instance, may be a generalpurpose processor, a customized integrated circuit (e.g., an ASIC), or afield-programmable gate array (FPGA) within user equipment 300, mediacontent source 416, or media guidance data source 418. For example, adata structure corresponding to a user profile, as described herein, maybe stored in, and retrieved from, storage 308 of FIG. 3 , or mediaguidance data source 418 of FIG. 4 . Furthermore, processing circuitry,or a computer program, may update settings associated with a user, suchas a register of media a particular user has recently consumed, updatingthe information stored within storage 308 of FIG. 3 or media guidancedata source 418 of FIG. 4 .

The processes discussed above are intended to be illustrative and notlimiting. One skilled in the art would appreciate that the steps of theprocesses discussed herein may be omitted, modified, combined, and/orrearranged, and any additional steps may be performed without departingfrom the scope of the invention. More generally, the above disclosure ismeant to be exemplary and not limiting. Only the claims that follow aremeant to set bounds as to what the present invention includes.Furthermore, it should be noted that the features and limitationsdescribed in any one embodiment may be applied to any other embodimentherein, and flowcharts or examples relating to one embodiment may becombined with any other embodiment in a suitable manner, done indifferent orders, or done in parallel. In addition, the systems andmethods described herein may be performed in real time. It should alsobe noted that the systems and/or methods described above may be appliedto, or used in accordance with, other systems and/or methods.

1-50. (canceled)
 51. A method comprising: accessing, by a server,metadata stored in data structures to determine a plurality of users ina group; generating, by the server, a user interface for display on eachelectronic media consumption device associated with the plurality ofusers in the group; receiving an indication that only a first user and asecond user, from the plurality of users in the group, have consumed aportion of a first media item of a plurality of media items on theirelectronic media consumption devices; and in response to thedetermination, transmitting an alert to either all the users in thegroup, or only those users in the group that have consumed a portion ofthe first media item, wherein the alert indicates relative progress ofthe first user to the second user relating to consumption of the firstmedia item.
 52. The method of claim 51, wherein the alert is transmittedto all the plurality of users in the group.
 53. The method of claim 51,further comprising: monitoring the plurality of users in the group todetermine which users in the group have consumed the portion of thefirst media item; and based on the results of monitoring, transmittingthe alert to only those users in the group who have consumed the portionof the first media item.
 54. The method of claim 51, further comprising,determining that a third user in the group has not consumed any portionof the first media item; and not sending an alert to the third user ofthe first and second user's relative progress related to consuming thefirst media item.
 55. The method of claim 51, further comprising,analyzing metadata of user profiles associated with the plurality ofusers in the group to determine which users in the group have consumedthe portion of the first media item and which users have not.
 56. Themethod of claim 51, further comprising, displaying an option to thefirst user to ignore the alert.
 57. The method of claim 51, furthercomprising: querying an account of the second user to determine whetherthe second user's account is associated with additional users; and inresponse to determining that the second user's account is associatedwith additional users, displaying a selectable option for the additionalusers to access the first media item.
 58. The method of claim 51,further comprising: displaying an option to the first user to customizethe alert, wherein customization allows the first user to add or edittext of the alert; and transmitting the customized alert to the seconduser.
 59. The method of claim 51, further comprising, transmitting tothe second user, an indication that the first user plans to stopconsuming the first media item until a future time.
 60. The method ofclaim 51, wherein the alert visually conveys the relative progressbetween the first and the second user.
 61. A system comprising:communications circuitry to access a plurality of electronic mediaconsumption devices associate with a plurality of users in a group; andcontrol circuitry configured to: access metadata stored in datastructures to determine a plurality of users in a group; generate a userinterface for display on each electronic media consumption deviceassociated with the plurality of users in the group; receive anindication that only a first user and a second user, from the pluralityof users in the group, have consumed a portion of a first media item ofa plurality of media items on their electronic media consumptiondevices; and in response to the determination, transmit an alert toeither all the users in the group, or only those users in the group thathave consumed a portion of the first media item, wherein the alertindicates relative progress of the first user to the second userrelating to consumption of the first media item.
 62. The system of claim61, wherein the alert is transmitted by the control circuitry to all theplurality of users in the group.
 63. The system of claim 61, furthercomprising, the control circuitry configured to: monitor the pluralityof users in the group to determine which users in the group haveconsumed the portion of the first media item; and based on the resultsof monitoring, transmit the alert to only those users in the group whohave consumed the portion of the first media item.
 64. The system ofclaim 61, further comprising, the control circuitry configured todetermine that a third user in the group has not consumed any portion ofthe first media item; and not sending an alert to the third user of thefirst and second user's relative progress related to consuming the firstmedia item.
 65. The system of claim 61, further comprising, the controlcircuitry configured to analyze metadata of user profiles associatedwith the plurality of users in the group to determine which users in thegroup have consumed the portion of the first media item and which usershave not.
 66. The system of claim 61, further comprising, the controlcircuitry configured to display an option to the first user to ignorethe alert.
 67. The system of claim 61, further comprising, the controlcircuitry configured to: query an account of the second user todetermine whether the second user's account is associated withadditional users; and in response to determining that the second user'saccount is associated with additional users, display a selectable optionfor the additional users to access the first media item.
 68. The systemof claim 61, further comprising, the control circuitry configured to:display an option to the first user to customize the alert, whereincustomization allows the first user to add or edit text of the alert;and transmit the customized alert to the second user.
 69. The system ofclaim 61, further comprising, the control circuitry configured totransmit to the second user, an indication that the first user plans tostop consuming the first media item until a future time.
 70. The systemof claim 61, wherein the alert visually conveys the relative progressbetween the first and the second user.